System and method for providing substitute content in place of blocked content

ABSTRACT

A method for blocking content from being presented at a client device including substitution of alternative content. The client device recognizes and evaluates the received tags and blocks content based on a user profile. Substitute content is then identified and presented to the user. Substitute content includes a blank screen, prestored contents, a screen saver, alternative server content, and user selected content. The user may be prompted prior to substitution or choose that substitute content be automatically presented without prompting. Audio may be presented while substitute video is presented.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to networked media deliverysystems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a methodand system for substituting alternative content for blocked content.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Computer and television networks have become the predominant meansthrough which individuals receive media content, such as entertainmentand information. As technology has improved, media content providers,using computers and television, have been able to provide more and moremedia content to larger and larger audiences. Broadcast, cable, andsatellite television providers transmit television signals containingvast amounts of content, such as movies, news, special interest shows,audio, advertising, and home shopping programs, among others. It is notuncommon for cable and satellite television viewers to have over onehundred channels to choose from. Internet service providers similarlytransmit vast amounts of content of various types to computers via theInternet. Computer users have thousands of Internet sites to choosefrom. When a computer user accesses an Internet site, the user is oftenprovided a large amount of content, such as advertisements, promotions,links, and others.

One problem with current approaches toward media content distribution isthat there is too much content provided to any given user. In an attemptto maximize viewership and/or profits, content providers typicallytransmit content to as many viewers as possible, who are able to receivethe content (e.g., via television signals, internet transmissions,etc.). From the user's perspective, the massive amount of transmittedcontent results in an “information overload” effect. Viewers areinundated with such a vast amount of content that effectively choosingwhat they most want to view becomes difficult. Viewers simply do nothave time to view all of the content, and therefore attempt to beselective. Moreover, for any given viewer, the content that streams intothe viewer's home includes a large amount of content that the viewerwill not want to watch.

Most computer and television users know a priori (i.e., before receivingit) of certain categories of content that they will not want to viewbased only on the type of content. For example, many users, particularlyparents, do not want pornographic content to be an option for selectionon their television or computer. As another example, many users may notwant to view sports, while other viewers may know a priori that they donot want to view any sports, except bowling. Many viewers may knowbefore hand that they will never choose to watch cooking shows. Thus,television and computer users frequently know ahead of time of certaincategories of media content that they will not want to view.Unfortunately, notwithstanding users' a priori knowledge, contentproviders typically broadcast the same content to everyone. For anygiven user, much of that content is unwanted.

In the area of broadcast television, a user typically cannot easilyblock unwanted content. When a user receives a television signalcontaining a wide variety of content, there will typically be unwantedcontent mixed with content the user does want. The user typically mustbecome aware of the unwanted content, and learn enough about theunwanted content in order to make the decision to block the content by,for example, changing the channel. Since unwanted content is often mixedwith wanted content, a user typically cannot simply reject all contentfrom a given television station without also rejecting desired content.For example, although a user may have the option to deselect a cablechannel through the user's cable television provider, if the user doesso, he/she may be unknowingly giving up wanted content. Thus, simplydeselecting a channel does not adequately solve the problem of blockingcontent.

One possible solution, in the area of television, is a programming guide(PG). A PG typically presents all available television options in ascrolling fashion across the TV screen. PGs are difficult to read andconfusing because they simultaneously present too much information andtoo little information for a discriminating viewer. PGs present too muchinformation because they provide descriptions for every item ofavailable content, including unwanted content. The user typically mustread through all the descriptions to determine his/her preferredcontent. So many channels are typically presented on a PG that a viewercould easily miss a desired show while reading all the options, many ofwhich are unwanted. PGs present too little information for eachavailable content item because the descriptions are necessarily shortdue to limited space and time in the guide. PG descriptions arefrequently not descriptive enough to allow a discriminating viewer toeffectively determine whether any particular content item should beblocked.

On the Internet, content providers attempt to direct content to usersbased on past selections that the user has made. Based on userselections, the content provider transmits a unique piece of data tousers' computers, so that the content provider can later recognize whena user revisits a site. This unique piece of data is often referred toas a ‘cookie.’ When the content provider recognizes a cookie that waspreviously stored on the user's computer, the content provider maydirect content to the user based on the user's past selections. Althoughthis approach may tend to block content that the user does not want,many users find it intrusive and a violation of their privacy becausethe cookie is stored on the user's computer without the user's knowledgeof it, and the cookie is later transmitted to the content provider,again without the user's knowledge.

Unfortunately, traditional methods and systems do not effectively blockcontent from being presented to the user that is known a priori to beunwanted. Prior approaches toward blocking unwanted content have eitherput the burden on the user to block content by reading confusing guidesand sorting through hundreds of options, which wastes valuable time, orviolates users' privacy by downloading information unknown to the userand/or accessing the user's client device without the user knowledge.Thus, a need exists for content to be automatically blocked so thatusers are not burdened with wasting user time sorting through vastamounts of content, which is known a priori to be unwanted.

Additionally, if unwanted content is presented to the user, the usertypically wants an alternative to the unwanted content. Prior approachesrequire that the user exert effort and time finding alternative content.Frequently, while finding alternative content, the user views severalunwanted content items (e.g., advertisements, movies, etc.) beforefinding satisfactory alternative content, for example, while the user ischanging television channels. Furthermore, when the user transitions toalternative content, the user is currently not notified when the priorunwanted content is finished. Thus, the user must search for alternativecontent to take the place of unwanted content, and may miss wantedcontent that follows the unwanted content because the user is unawarethat the unwanted content is finished.

It is with respect to these and other considerations that the presentinvention has been developed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method of blockingcontent, such as advertisements and other content items, which may beless preferred or unwanted by a user. The system and method involve aserver device that tags content based on content type and then sends thetagged content to a client device. The client device receives the taggedcontent and uses the tags to block content locally based on apredetermined user profile. The user profile contains tag informationrepresenting the types of content that the user prefers less or does notwant to be presented. Substitute content is identified when content isblocked. Upon identifying substitute content, the content is presentedto the user in place of the blocked content.

Embodiments of the present invention provide for automaticallysubstituting alternative content for content that is determined to beunwanted. One embodiment dynamically presents alternative content in theplace of undesired content. Furthermore a seamless transition is madefrom undesired content to alternative content that is more likelydesired. Additionally, a variety of alternative content sources are madeavailable to the user to be dynamically selected when blocked content isidentified.

In one embodiment, the invention relates to a method of identifyingblocked content based on a user profile and content tags and identifyingsubstitute content to present in place of the blocked content. Taggedcontent is delivered to the user's client device. Using category contenttags, a client device determines which, if any, content is to beblocked. In one embodiment, the client identifies one or more contentitems to substitute for the blocked content based on preference data.

Another embodiment includes a method of blocking unwanted content in adistributed network by receiving tagged content, determining that thetagged content should be blocked, blocking the tagged content, andpresenting substitute content for the tagged content. The method mayfurther include accepting user input determining a substitution mode.Substitute content may be determined by comparing a tag from the taggedcontent with tags in a user profile, and if a field in the tag from thetagged content matches a field in a tag in the user profile, indicatingthat the tagged content should be blocked.

The method may further include displaying a substitute selection userinterface whereby a user may designate a substitution mode. Thesubstitution mode includes a source designation designating a source forsubstitution content, a manual designation indicating that substitutionwill not occur automatically, and an automatic designation indicatingthat substitution will occur automatically. Substituting may includepresenting a blank screen, a screen saver, locally stored content storedat the client, or alternative content from the server device. The methodmay further include automatically identifying alternative content, andautomatically presenting the identified alternative content to the user.

Yet another embodiment includes a client system operable to presentsubstitute content in place of blocked content including a receivemodule receiving tagged content from a server system, a user profilehaving tags related to content that is to be blocked, a user profileinterface in operable communication with the user profile moduleoperable to transmit tags in the user profile to the analysis module, ananalysis module coupled to the receive module and the user profileinterface operable to determine if received tagged content is to beblocked based on tags in the user profile and present substitute contentif the received tagged content is to be blocked, and a user input/outputmodule coupled to the analysis module operable to receive substitutecontent from the analysis module for presentation.

The analysis module may include a content insertion engine communicatingwith the receive module and a prestored content storage, a blockingmodule receiving tagged content and comparing the tagged content to tagsin the user profile, and a presentation module receiving a blockingsignal identifying blocked content from the blocking module andpresenting substitute content in place of the blocked content.

The invention may be implemented as a computer process, a computingsystem or as an article of manufacture such as a computer programproduct. The computer program product may be a computer storage mediumreadable by a computer system and encoding a computer program ofinstructions for executing a computer process. The computer programproduct may also be a propagated signal on a carrier readable by acomputing system and encoding a computer program of instructions forexecuting a computer process.

A more complete appreciation of the present invention and itsimprovements can be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings,which are briefly summarized below, and to the following detaileddescription of presently preferred embodiments of the invention, and tothe appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary operating environment implementing an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a computer system suitable for implementing an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 is module diagram illustrating exemplary software, hardware, orfirmware modules running in the computer system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an analysis moduleinteracting with a user profile interface shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary portion of tagged content that may beused in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates another exemplary portion of tagged advertisementcontent that may be used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a user profile interface interacting with one or moreuser profiles in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating operations carried out in a taggedcontent distribution system in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate exemplary user interfaces that may bepresented to a user of a client device in an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations that may beemployed by a profile generator for maintaining a user profile, such asthe profile shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations that may beimplemented by a blocking module, such as the blocking module shown inFIG. 4.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations of aparticular embodiment of a blocking operation, such as the blockingoperation shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process of scoringor comparing tags in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 15 illustrates a user interface that may be employed in anembodiment of the present invention to enable the user to edit a userprofile in view of the user's viewing history.

FIG. 16 illustrates a user interface that may be used to selectsubstitute content for blocked content in one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 17 is an operational flow diagram illustrating exemplary operationsfor gathering preferred content data in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 18 is an operation flow diagram illustrating exemplary operationsfor substituting content in place of blocked content in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is an operational flow diagram illustrating exemplary operationsfor dynamically identifying preferred substitute content in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is an operational flow diagram illustrating exemplary operationsfor correlating two tags in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 21 is an operational flow diagram illustrating exemplary operationsfor selecting a source for substitute content and presenting thesubstitute content in accordance with an embodiment to the presentinvention.

FIG. 22 is an operational flow diagram illustrating exemplary operationsfor choosing automatic or manual substitution in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment 100 employing anembodiment of the present invention. A server device 102 communicateswith one or more client devices, such as client device 104 and/or clientdevice 105, via a communication network 106. Server device 102 transmitsmedia content, such as, but not limited to, video, audio, text, orexecutable programs, over the communication network 106 to be used bythe client devices 104 and/or 105. Each of the client devices 104 and/or105 has an output device, such as a computer monitor 114, or atelevision screen 116, for presenting media content to the user.

The server device 102 has memory 108 that stores media content in theform of data streams 110, 134, and 136. The server device 102 alsostores an associated tag, such as tags 112, 130, and 132, with each datastream 110, 134, and 136, respectively. Each of the tags 112, 130, and132 may be unique from the others and may further be associated withuser classifications such as user demographics or usage patterns basedon generalized demographic information. The tagged data streams 110,134, and 136 may be transmitted to the client devices 104 and 105. Thetags are used by client devices 104 and 105 to block content; i.e.,prevent the content from being presented.

In an embodiment, one or more data streams are transmitted with the tagsto the client devices 104 and 105. The client devices 104 and 105determine which, if any, of the received data streams are inappropriatefor presentation to the user of the client device 104, 105 by analyzingthe tag information. The client devices 104 and 105 have access to auser profile, such as user profile 118 and 120, respectively, that isfurther used to analyze the tag information to determine which contentshould be blocked.

In one embodiment, the client device 104 is a computer system, and theserver device 102 is a server computer, such as a web server ore-commerce application server. In this embodiment, the communicationnetwork 106 may be the Internet communicating data such as ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML) or Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) data to theclient device 104. As noted above, the data communicated over thenetwork 106 is tagged. The user profile 118 comprises tags correspondingto user preferences for content received from the Internet. Upon receiptof data stream 110 and its associated tag 112, the desktop computerclient 104 evaluates the tag 112 and the user profile 118 to determineif the data stream 110 is to be blocked. In one embodiment, if the tag112 is listed in the user profile 118, the associated data stream 110 isblocked from presentation to the user of the desktop computer clientdevice 104.

In another embodiment, the client device 105 is a set-top-box (STB). Inthis embodiment, the communication network 106 may be a satellitetelevision broadcast network and the server 102 may be a head-end of acable service provider. The cable service provider generally broadcastsprogramming, advertising, “walled garden” merchandising offers, andother media content. As mentioned above, the media content isbroadcasted in the form of data streams 110, 134, and 136 and associatedtags 112, 130, and 132, respectively, to the STB 105. The STB 105evaluates the tags 112, 130, and 132 and the STB user profile 120 todetermine if any of the data streams 110, 134, or 136 should be blockedfrom presentation to the user of the STB 105. The STB 105 does notpresent to the user the data stream(s) that are inappropriate based onthe user profile 120.

While FIG. 1 depicts two types of client devices, a personal desktopcomputer 104 and a television set top box (STB) 105, it is to beunderstood that the client devices 104 and 105 may be any deviceoperable to communicate via the communications network 106, and operableto receive a data stream, such as data stream 110 having a tag such as112. By way of example, and not limitation, the client device 104 may bea personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, or a cellulartelephone, among others. By way of further example, and not limitation,the communication network 106 may be wireless network, an Ethernet, alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or a televisionbroadcast network, among others.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system for implementing the inventionwith a computing device 200. In its most basic configuration, thecomputing device 200 typically includes at least one processing unit 202and memory 204. Depending on the exact configuration and type ofcomputing device, the memory 204 may be volatile (such as RAM),non-volatile (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.) or some combination ofthe two. This most basic configuration is illustrated in FIG. 2 bydashed line 206. Additionally, the device 200 may also have additionalfeatures and functionality. For example, the device 200 may also includeadditional storage (removable and/or non-removable) including, but notlimited to, magnetic or optical disks or tape. Such additional storageis illustrated in FIG. 2 by removable storage 208 and non-removablestorage 210.

Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable andnon-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storageof information such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules or other data. The memory 204, removable storage 208 andnon-removable storage 210 are all examples of computer storage media.Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, Random AccessMemory (AM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable ProgrammableROM (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can be accessed by device 200. Any such computer storage mediamay be part of the device 200.

The device 200 may also contain communications connection(s) 212 thatallow the device to communicate with other devices. Communicationsconnection(s) 212 is an example of communication media. Communicationmedia typically embodies computer readable instructions, datastructures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signalsuch as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes anyinformation delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example,and not limitation, communication media includes any informationdelivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that hasone or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as toencode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radiofrequency (RF), infrared and other wireless media. The term computerreadable media as used herein includes both storage media andcommunication media.

The device 200 may also have input device(s) 214 such as keyboard,mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, remote control unit,etc. Output device(s) 216 such as a display, speakers, printer, etc. mayalso be included. All these devices are well known in the art and neednot be discussed at length here.

In one embodiment, the computing device 200 is the set-top box (STB)105. In this particular embodiment, the STB 105 provides a controlinterface through which a subscriber makes viewing selections by, e.g.,using a remote control unit, a keyboard, or a control panel. Inproviding this interface, the STB 105 performs the following functions:(1) routes traditional broadcast signals to the connected viewingdevice; (2) converts media content to a selected video format (e.g.,NTSC or PAL) and presents the content to the subscriber; (3) forinteractive systems, exchanges messages (including display data) withthe server device 102 over distribution network 106; (4) receivesmessages from a subscriber input device, such as a remote control unit;(5) translates video signals from a network-native format into a formatthat can be used by the viewing device; (6) inserts alphanumeric orgraphical information (e.g., program guides, menus, etc.) into the videostream to overlay that information on the video image; and (7) providesgraphic or audio feedback to the subscriber. Examples of commerciallyavailable set-top boxes 105 that satisfy these functions include an SAExplorer 2000 set-top box by Scientific Atlanta, a DCT-5000 set-top boxby Motorola/General Instruments, and a Z12C set-top box by Zenith.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a client-server system 300employing an embodiment of the present invention. As discussed in moredetail below, the client-server system 300 provides tagged content tousers of the system 300. The content may include advertising andnon-advertising content, including, but not limited to, news, games,programming, books, and sports. A server 302 transmits media content toa client 304, which represents any client system, such as systems 103and 105 (FIG. 1). Media content sent by the server 302 is in a taggeddata stream format, as noted above. Data streams at the server 302 aretagged with tags corresponding to classifications of media content.Classifications include, but are not limited to, content type or format(e.g., advertisement, movie, etc.), subject matter of the content,title, and rating (e.g., G, R, PG-13, etc.). The tags allow the clientdevice 304 to block content that is determined to be objectionable tothe user, i.e., predetermined content.

In one embodiment, the server device 302 includes a retrieving module306, a receive module 308, and a send module 310. The receive module 308receives requests from the client. An example of a request from theclient 304 is a Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) Request for anInternet page on the server 302. In the response to the request, theserver 302 uses a send module 310 to send multiple, tagged data streamsof content to the client 304. The available tagged content is retrievedfrom a tagged data memory 307 by the retrieving module 306. The taggeddata memory 307 contains tagged content items. As discussed above,tagged content items are generally data streams with data tags thatclassify the content according to predetermined criteria. In oneembodiment, the server device 302 may obtain the tagged content itemsfrom content providers (e.g., advertisers), which tag the content basedon the predetermined criteria. In another embodiment, the server may tagthe content items itself. The send module 310 receives the taggedcontent items from the retrieving module 306 and transmits the taggedcontent items to the client 304.

In another embodiment, the server device 302 does not have a receivemodule 308. For instance, in some cases, the server device 302 primarilybroadcasts content onto a broadcast network (e.g., satellite TV, HighDefinition Television (HDTV)). In this particular embodiment, the client304 may represent an STB, such as STB 105 (FIG. 1) and the client 304may receive the broadcasted content from the broadcast network, but maynot need to send information back to the server device 302. In thisembodiment, the STB 304 simply receives tagged data streams of contentsent by the server device 302 and blocks selected content locally. Thus,as is discussed below, the send module of the client device 302 may notbe necessary in some media content distribution networks, such as abroadcast TV/STB implementation.

The client device 304 includes a receive module 312, which receives thetransmitted tagged data streams from the server device 302. The receivemodule 312 performs all tasks associated with receiving data from theserver 302, including, for example, detecting incoming data, andsynchronizing to receive the data. The receive module 312 may alsodecode, digitize, format, and/or buffer incoming tagged data as may benecessary in a particular implementation. The receive module 312 sendsthe tagged data to an analysis module 314, which analyzes the receivedtagged data. The analysis module 314 determines which, if any, of thetagged data is to be blocked from presentation to the user. The processof determining whether tagged data should be blocked is discussed inmore detail below. If the analysis module 314 determines that an item oftagged data is to be blocked, the analysis module 314 does not presentthat item to the user.

In one embodiment, the analysis module 314 stores the received taggeddata in a tagged data memory 316. The analysis module 314 may store thetagged data in any arrangement in the tagged data memory 316 that issuitable for the particular implementation. For example, the analysismodule 314 may group certain types of content together. The analysismodule 314 may group advertising content together, games contenttogether, movies content together, etc. The tagged data is generallyorganized in the tagged data memory 316 in a way to facilitate quick andefficient access, but such organization is not necessary. In analternative embodiment, the analysis module 314 passes selected contentstraight through, without storage, to a user input/output module 318.

The user input/output module 318 performs tasks associated withconducting media content to an output device such as a display monitor,speakers, or a printer (e.g., the output devices 216 in FIG. 2). Theuser input/output module 318 also performs tasks associated withreceiving input from a user, such as mouse clicks, keyboard entry, orremote control entry (e.g. via input devices 214 in FIG. 2). While auser inputs data, the user input/output module 318 detects the userinput and may transmit the user input to a profile interface 320 foranalysis. In one embodiment, the analysis module 320 evaluates userinput to detect patterns in the user input. Based on the detected usagepatterns, the profile interface 320 updates a user profile 322.

In one embodiment, the analysis module 314 detects events that triggerpresentation content. Events that trigger presentation content aregenerally referred to as insertion events. The analysis module 314 mayreceive these events from the server 302 through the receive module 312or analysis module may receive these events from the user input/outputmodule 318. With respect to events from the receive module 312, anexemplary event is an advertisement insertion event, which indicatesthat an ad should be presented to the user. In this case, theadvertisement insertion event may be a cue tone contained within thenetwork TV broadcast, which may be transmitted along with other mediacontent from the server 302. In general, insertion events that arereceived from the server 302 may be referred to as externalpredetermined events because they arise externally from the client 304and typically indicate a predetermined time for presentation.

Another type of insertion event that the analysis module 314 may detectis an internal event that arises on the client side. One example of aninternal insertion event is a user initiated menu selection from a STBnavigator, such as the user requesting a list of available televisionshows, a list of games that are available to play online or books thatare available via an online bookstore among others. Each list ofrespective items offered may be tagged by the server system and screenedby the client device so as to block content items that are not desired.Furthermore, the initial navigator menu presented on the display may becustomized manually or automatically at the client device based uponprior user behavior and user profile so as to order the list ofavailable activities or actions (e.g., preferences for televisionprogram, games, shopping, news, mail, etc.), thereby presenting the userwith a list best matching their probable activities. Additionally, suchprior user behavior may be recognized by the client device, wherebycontent may be exhibited in a predetermined sequence (e.g., preferredcontent type displayed first upon user initiation of the device).

As a specific example, when a user turns on the user's television setand STB, the user may be immediately presented with content,advertising, programming, etc. which is in accordance with user profile322. The user may then select a list of options of a certain type ofmedia content using a user input device, such as a remote control, forexample. The user may choose, via, for example, a remote control device,a list of games to be shown the list providing many user choices ofgames. In this example, the analysis module 314 receives a selectionsignal from the user I/O module 318 and recognizes the user's selectionof a list of games as an insertion event. A menu or list of games isthen presented so the user is able select the game that to be played.When the user selects one of the games in the list, the analysis module314 will receive another insertion event to transmit the selected gameto the input/output module 318. The analysis module 314, upon receivingan insertion event, accesses the client tagged data 316 to identifyappropriate media content that should be displayed to the user by way ofthe user profile 322.

Referring again to FIG. 3, the receive module 312 transmits tagged datato the analysis module 314, which blocks unwanted tagged data based ontag information stored in the user profile 322. The analysis module 314determines which, if any, tagged data from the receive module 312 isidentified in the user profile 322. In an embodiment, tagged data thatis identified in the user profile 322 is not transmitted to the userinput/output module 318. In such a case, only content that is not listedin the user profile 322 may be presented to the user. Advantageously,unwanted content as identified by tags in the user profile 322 are notpresented to the user. In an alternative embodiment, only tagged datathat has corresponding tag information in the profile is presented tothe user. In this alternative case, the user is presented onlypredetermined content with matching tag information.

In one embodiment, the user profile 322 may be manually entered by theuser. In another embodiment, the user profile may be automaticallygenerated and/or updated based on analysis of the user's viewinghistory. In both embodiments the user profile is maintained privately;i.e., the user profile 322 is accessible to the client device 304, butnot to external entities, such as the server device 302. Thus, unlikeother systems, a user can block undesirable media content without givingup his or her privacy.

In one embodiment, the client device 304 has a send module 324 forsending data, such as requests, to the server device 302. An example ofthis embodiment is a client computer communicating to a server computerover the Internet, wherein the client computer sends Hypertext TransportProtocol (HTTP) requests to the server computer to browse web pages.

In another embodiment, the client device 304 need not have a send module324. As discussed above, an example of this embodiment is a STB 105receiving content from a broadcast TV network. In this embodiment, theSTB 105 does not send requests for data. Rather, the server device 302(e.g., head-end of a cable service provider) is constantly broadcastingcontent on a number of channels that the STB 105 can switch to. Anotherexample of a client device 304 receiving broadcast TV signal(s) is aTV-equipped computer receiving television signals, such as HighDefinition Television (HDTV) signals.

With specific reference to an embodiment employing the STB 105, the STB105 employs modules such as those depicted in FIG. 3 to complete manyintelligent functions, including the collecting, storing, exchanging,blocking, and displaying of data. To satisfy these functions, the STB105 has a navigator, an operating system, and a memory buffer. Theoperating system is a computer program that, after being initiallyloaded into the STB 105 by a bootstrap program, manages the otherprograms, or applications, running on the STB 105. The navigator is asoftware application running on top of the operating system. Thenavigator is provided by the user I/O module 318 and generates menuscreens and accepts viewer menu selections such as movie orders, previeworders, or requests to enter an interactive “walled-garden” environmentthat may supply news, offer products, etc. Based on these selections,the navigator directs the analysis module 314 to deliver the selectedprogram, e.g., the analysis module 314 plays the selected movie. Inaddition, the navigator records viewer selections or event data inmemory, such as memory 204. As is discussed below, the recorded viewerselections or event data may be analyzed by the analysis module 314 todetect usage patterns.

With regard to the analysis module 314, an exemplary embodiment of ananalysis module 414 is illustrated in FIG. 4. The analysis module 414includes a content insertion engine 402, a blocking module 404, apresentation module 403, preference data storage 405, and a profilegenerator 406. The content insertion engine 402 receives data from thetagged data memory 316 and the receive module 312, and detects insertionevents based on the received data. When the content insertion engine 402receives content from the receive module 312 or the tagged data memory316, the content insertion engine 402 may simply pass the receivedcontent on to the blocking module 404, which will evaluate the contentand pass it to the presentation module 403, if appropriate. The contentinsertion engine 402 passes received data on to the blocking module 404when, for example, the user is viewing a movie. The movie may beinterrupted when the content insertion engine 402 receives an insertionevent.

If an insertion event occurs, the content insertion engine 402 insertstagged content from the tagged data memory 316 or from the receivemodule 312 into a stream of content items being sent to the blockingmodule 404. By way of example, a network cue-tone for video advertisingis one type of insertion event that the content insertion engine 402 maydetect. A network cue-tone may cause the content insertion engine 402 toinsert an advertisement in the midst of content being sent to theblocking module 404. Another type of insertion event that may occur isreceipt of a tag corresponding to a particular type of content, such asan advertisement. Examples of advertisement content with correspondingtags are illustrated in FIG. 6 and discussed in detail below. If aninsertion event does occur, the content insertion engine 402 transmitsan insert command and associated tagged content to the blocking module404 to indicate that the media content is to be inserted (i.e.,presented to the user).

In response to receiving the insert command, the blocking module 404analyzes tag(s) received from the content insertion engine 402 and tagsfrom the profile interface 320. The user profile interface 320 accessesdata in the user profile 322. More specifically, the user profileinterface 320 reads and writes tag data from and to the user profile322. In operation, the user profile interface 320 may format or encodethe tag data that is written to the user profile 322. When reading theencoded data out of the user profile 322, the profile interface 320formats and/or decodes the data for transmission to the analysis module414.

In one embodiment, the blocking module 404 is operable to partiallyand/or completely block content items. Partial blocking occurs, forexample, when a movie is being presented to the user, and the blockingmodule 404 identifies a portion of the movie that is in a categoryidentified in the user profile 322. For example, if “nudity”, isidentified in the user profile 322 as a subcategory of content that isunwanted, any portions of a movie having nudity will be selectivelyblocked by the blocking module 404. Other possible subcategories ofcontent that may be blocked are violence and language, among others. Inone embodiment, the blocking module is operable to selectively block thevideo and/or audio portions of the content.

Complete blocking occurs, for example, when a movie tag is transmittedto the blocking module 404 that has a rating (e.g., rated X) that isidentified in the user profile 322 as inappropriate. In this example,any movie with a rating of “X” will be completely blocked frompresentation. Categories and subcategories of content are discussed inmore detail below.

In one embodiment of the analysis module 414, the blocking module 404determines whether content in the tagged data memory 316 should beblocked from presentation to the user based upon tags in the userprofile 322. As is discussed below in more detail, the tags in thetagged data memory 316 may be compared to the tags in the user profile322. If none of the tag data 322 matches a tag, the blocking module 404transmits the tag and content to the presentation module 403 for outputto the user I/O module 318. In this embodiment, tags that match any tagdata in user profile 322 are not transmitted to the presentation module403.

The profile generator 406 receives data from the user I/O module 318 andupdates the profile 322, via the profile interface 320, according toinputs from the user. In one embodiment, the profile generator 406dynamically updates the user profile 322 based on user selections, sothat when the blocking module 404 accesses the user profile 322, theblocking module 404 will analyze the received tags and content based onthe most recent user preferences indicated by the profile 322.Alternatively, profiles may be static, and/or predetermined. An exampleof a predetermined user profile 322 is a user profile that may beobtained from an Internet site, which may provide a set of pregenerated(i.e., created in advance) user profiles from which users may select anddownload. The profile generator 406 preferably organizes tag data in theuser profile 322 for fast and efficient access.

The user profile 322 is preferably stored in memory accessible by one ormore microprocessors of the client device 304. The memory that storesthe user profile 322 can be any memory medium known in the art,including, but not limited to, Personal Computer Memory CardInternational Association (PCMCIA) memory, Random Access Memory (RAM),Read Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM),or hard disc drive memory. It should be understood that the user profile322 need not be stored contiguously in memory and may be separated in amemory medium accessible through a file system that maps memorylocations to data. In practice, one or more of the modules shown inFIGS. 3-4 may be integrated on a single integrated circuit in anycombination. Alternatively, they may be separately implemented insoftware or hardware.

The user profile 322 includes tag data associated with categories ofcontent that the user does not want to be presented. In one embodiment,the user may create the user profile 322 by selecting tags from a set ofpredetermined tags. The set of predetermined tags may be standard tagsthat are used by the media industry to describe categories of content.The tags are appended to media content prior to transmission to theclient device 304. To illustrate how the tags may be interpreted or usedby the client device 304, tags are described in detail below.

With regard to the preference data storage 405, the preference datastorage 405 stores data related to a user's viewing history. Thepreference data 405 may include data such as, but not limited to,preferred tags, time duration of viewing categories/subcategories ofcontent, and user input, such as mouse clicks or remote control dataentries. In one embodiment, the presentation module 403 transmitspreference data to the preference data storage 405. The presentationmodule 403 may receive the preference data from a number of sourcesincluding the user I/O module and/or the blocking module 404. Forexample, the presentation module may detect a user data entry associatedwith choosing a particular category of content. In response, thepresentation module 403 may store the time of the data entry, the tagdata, and the duration of viewing the associated tagged content.

As another example, the presentation module 403 may detect what iscurrently being presented and store the associated tag and viewingduration in the preference data storage 405. The presentation module 403may organize the preference data 405 in any number of ways. In oneembodiment, the presentation module 403 organizes preferred tags inorder from most preferred to least preferred. In this embodiment, thepresentation module 403 determines a level of preference for the contenttags. In another embodiment, the level of preference may be determinedby the time duration of viewing the associated tag. In this embodimentthe tags that are viewed for the longest amount of time are designatedas having a higher level of preference.

In another embodiment, the presentation module 403 organizes thepreference data 405 hierarchically based on tag categories or otherparameters such as duration of viewing. Later, as will be discussedbelow, preference data 405 may be used in an embodiment of the presentinvention to substitute preferred content in place of blocked content.

In another embodiment of the preferred data storage 405, tag fields(discussed in FIGS. 5-6) are stored with associated weights thatidentify a level of importance associated with a given tag field. Usingthe weighted tag fields, the analysis module (e.g., 314 of FIG. 3) canidentify more or less preferred content for presentation to the user.Exemplary methods of using tag field weights are discussed in followingfigures. Tag field weights may be particularly useful in presenting alist of preferred content to the user by ordering the content in thelist in order of most preferred to least preferred so that the user isable to make content selections quickly and easily. Additionally, whencontent is to be automatically substituted (as discussed below), tagfield weights provide a unique mechanism of predicting most likelypreferred content for substitution with blocked content.

In yet another embodiment, the presentation module 403 receivespreferred tag data from the user I/O module and stores the preferred tagdata in the preference data storage 405. In this embodiment, thepreferred tag data may be entered by a user via the user I/O module. Theuser may enter preferred tag data through a number of mechanisms. In oneembodiment, the user enters preferred tag data through a menu presentedto the user on the display. In this embodiment, the client device isprogrammed with a menu of all tags and presents them to the user whenthe user calls up a menu. The user may select tags that the user prefersthrough keyboard, hand-held remote, mouse or other input device. Fromthe menu, the user can store the selected tags. When the user stores theselected tags, the tag data is received by the presentation module 403and stored in the preference data storage 405.

In another embodiment, the user has a numeric representation “card” thathas a numeric code associated with sets of one or more predeterminedtags. The card may be either in electronic or tangible form. The usermay enter the numeric code using a card swiping device attached to theclient device, or typing in the numeric code using another input device,such as a keyboard, hand-held remote, mouse, among others. Thepresentation module 403 receives the numeric code and, in response,identifies a set of tags associated with the code. The set of tagsassociated with the numeric code may be prestored on the client deviceor may be obtained over the network from a server computer. Thepresentation module 403 copies the set of preferred tags identified bythe numeric code into the preference data storage 405.

A portion of tagged content 500 that may be transmitted to a clientdevice 304 is illustrated in FIG. 5. The portion of tagged content 500includes tag/content pairs such as pair 504 including a tag. Thetag/content pair 504 contains tag 510, and its associated content 512.As discussed above, the content may be any type of content, including,but not limited to, advertisements, movies, news programs. By way offurther example, and not limitation, content items may containdescriptions (e.g., title, author, price, theme, etc.) of content suchas books, movies, games, etc. Each tag is made up of fields. The fieldsare each descriptive of a content category or subcategory (describedbelow). In one embodiment, the tags 506, 510, and 514 have a type field516, a title field 518, an age field 520, a gender field 522, an incomefield 524, a location field 526, a family field 528, and a rating field530. As can be seen, the fields, therefore, may describe the associatedcontent in various terms, such as what the content is (e.g., type field516, or title field 518, etc.), or what type of viewer the content maybe appropriate for (e.g., age field 520, gender field 522, rating field530, etc.).

For example, the tag 510 indicates that the content 512 associated withthe tag 510 is an advertisement about Budweiser® beer. The tag 510further indicates that the content 512 may be most appropriate for malesfrom the ages 21-55. Additionally, the tag 510 indicates that the incomelevel, location, and family characteristics (e.g., single, married,kids, etc.) of the viewer are not relevant with regard to the type ofcontent. The tags 506, 510, and 514, are appended to the content 508,512, and 515, respectively by the server 302 or a media contentprovider. The client 304 uses the tags to determine whether the content508, 512, and 515 is appropriate for the user at the client device 304.The client 304 and server 302 utilize a common tag format.

The tag data in each of the fields may be in any format suitable for theparticular implementation and the category. For example, in oneembodiment, the age field 520 includes two binary encoded values,representing a minimum age and a maximum age, to specify an age range.As a further example, the gender field 522 may be a single binary valuerepresenting either and/or female. The location field 524 may include aseries of ASCII encoded numbers indicating a zip code. As will berecognize by those skilled in the art, any method and system offormatting field data to specify categories and subcategories of contentmay be used. Preferably the tag and field format is substantiallystandardized among media content providers, service providers, andserver and client device manufacturers.

In one embodiment, providers of content to the server device 302 tag thecontent before making it available to the server 302. The contentproviders may fill in the fields, such as type, title, age, gender,income, location, and family, with the category data that the providerbelieves most accurately describes the type of content as it relates tousers. In another embodiment, the server device 302 appends the tags tothe content. In this embodiment the server device 302 is operable todetermine what identifying information is most appropriate to thecontent and fill in each of the fields accordingly. The server device302 has a dictionary of categories (e.g., type, title, age, gender,etc.) to select from. The tags that the client device 304 uses in theuser profile 322 have categories (e.g., type, title, age, gender, etc.)selected from a common set of categories. Thus, the client device 304and the server device 302 utilize a common tag format having commoncategories.

Over time, field categories and corresponding category options maychange. For example, another category, such as “Education Level”, may beadded to the tag format. When the tag format changes, the switch to thenew tag format at the server device 302 is preferably synchronized withthe switch to the new tag format at the client device 304. FIG. 5illustrates exemplary categories in an exemplary format, and it is to beunderstood that any field designations may be used that effectivelydescribe the categories or classifications of content that may bedistributed to users. In another embodiment, subcategories are used inaddition to categories to describe content in more detail.

The “type” field may have “subtypes” that further classify the type. Forexample, when the type is “movie,” the “movie” type may further classifymovies into genres such as, but not limited to, westerns, comedy,horror, drama, action, adult, etc. The movie genres are subtypes ofmovies. Another example of subtyping is a “sports” subtype. Subtypes ofsports may be football, basketball, baseball, hockey, etc. As anotherexample, the “family” category may have subcategories of “single,”“married,” “married with kids,” “single parent,” and others.

Thus, subcategorizing further describes content based on narrowerclassifications. The user profile 322 may be automatically or manuallyupdated to track a user's selections of categories and/or subcategoriesto be blocked. Additionally, as is discussed in more detail below, tagsmay include a weight value associated with each field category orsubcategory, indicating the relative importance of that category orsubcategory.

FIG. 6 illustrates another exemplary portion of tagged advertisementcontent 600 that may be used in an embodiment of the present invention.Three advertisements 608, 612, and 615 are shown with associated tags606, 610, and 614, respectively. Advertisement 608 is identified by itsassociated tag 606 to be an advertisement for Clinique® products and isdirected to females of a middle range income and from ages 21-50.Advertisement 612 is identified by its associated tag 610 as being anadvertisement for Budweiser® products and is directed to males of fromages 21-55, of any income, location, or family arrangement. Theadvertisement 615 is identified by its associated tag 614 as being anadvertisement for Blue's Clues® program for children ages 2-7, and afamily arrangement with kids. Using these tags, the system canselectively block one or more of these advertisements by comparing theassociated tags to the user profile.

A user profile interface 720 is illustrated in FIG. 7 interacting withone or more user profiles 714, 716, and 718. Each of the user profiles714, 716, and 718 is selectable by the profile interface 720. In oneembodiment, the user profile interface 720 responsively selects one ofthe user profiles based upon the occurrence of events. The user profileinterface 720 reads and writes user profile data from and to theselected user profile 718. Each of the user profiles 714, 716, and 718are identified by unique identifiers, such as Identifier 1 (ID 1) inuser profile 718. User profiles 714, 716, and 718 have category data,such as category one through category A in user profile 718, similar tocategory data in the tag fields shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, where “A” is aninteger variable indicating any number of potential categorydesignations. The category data in the user profiles 714, 716, and 718represent categories and/or subcategories of media content that are tobe blocked from presentation.

In one embodiment, the profile interface 720 has a profile input/output(I/O) module 724 that handles input and output to the user profiles. Asillustrated, the profile I/O module 724 is accessing user profile 718.The profile I/O module 724 receives user input from the user I/O module318 (FIG. 3), and in response, formats the data and/or encodes the data,as necessary, and writes the data to the user profile 718. The profileI/O module 724 responds to requests from the blocking module 404 (FIG.4) by reading data out of the selected user profile 718 and transmittingit to the blocking module 404.

The profile interface 720 in one embodiment includes a profile selector728 that responsively selects one of the user profiles 714, 716, or 718,depending on input from one or more sources. In one embodiment, theprofile selector 728 receives user profile selection input from the userI/O module 318 that identifies one of the user profiles. The datareceived from the user I/O 318 may be a password, a pin number, or someother unique identifying information that enables the user to select oneof the user profiles. The profile selector 728 transmits a selectionmessage to the profile I/O module 724, notifying the profile I/O module724 to utilize the selected user profile. The message sent to theprofile I/O module 724 may be in any form including but not limited to,a base address, a pointer, an array index, or an offset in memory.

In another embodiment, the profile selector 728 receives input from aclock indicating the current time. A user in this embodiment is able tohave one of the user profiles selected based upon a time of day. Thus,for example, the user transmits a message via the user I/O module 318,to the profile selector 728 indicating that user profile 718 should beselected from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and after 10:00 PM, the user profile716 should be selected. The profile selector 728 receives time selectiondata from the user I/O module 318, saves the time selection data, andrefers to the time selection data during operation to determine when andif a user profile should be selected at a given time. The profileselector 728 compares the clock time to any time selection data that hasbeen entered to determine if a user profile should be selected at thecurrent time.

In embodiments described herein, the logical operations of the clientdevice 304 and the server device 302 may be implemented as a sequence ofcomputer implemented steps or program modules running on amicroprocessor, such as, without limitation, a processor in a personalcomputer or a computer workstation. It will be understood to thoseskilled in the art that the client device 304 and the server device 302of the present invention may also be implemented as interconnectedmachine logic circuits or circuit modules within a computing system. Theimplementation is a matter of choice dependent on the performancerequirements of the computing system implementing the client device 304and the server device 302.

The operation, structural devices, acts, and/or modules described hereinmay be implemented in software, in firmware, in special purpose digitallogic, and/or any combination thereof without deviating from the spiritand scope of the present invention as recited within the claims attachedhereto. Furthermore, the various software routines or software modulesdescribed herein may be implemented by any means known in the art. Forexample, any number of computer programming languages, such as “C”,“C++”, Pascal, FORTRAN, assembly language, Java, etc., may be used. Byway of further example, and not limitation, any scripting language knownin the art may be used, such as Korn shell script. Furthermore, variousprogramming approaches such as procedural, object oriented or artificialintelligence techniques may be employed.

The client device 304 and the server device 302 may be implemented assoftware modules executed by one or more general purpose computers, suchas the general purpose computer 200 illustrated in FIG. 2. As describedin greater detail below, the client device 304 may be employed toreceive, store, block, and/or present media content, such as movies,games, and/or advertisements. The client device 304 employscomputer-readable media for carrying out the various tasks associatedwith blocking unwanted content from presentation to the user of theclient device 304.

An operation flow chart 800 is shown in FIG. 8 illustrating operationsperformed in a tagged content distribution network in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. After a start operation 802, a tagoperation 804 tags content items that will be transmitted to a clientdevice such as the client device 304. The server device 302 may performthe tag operation 804. Alternatively, an advertiser that providescontent to the server device 302 may perform the tag operation 302. Thetag operation 804 involves creating a tag describing relevant contentcategories and associating the tag with one or more content items. Asdiscussed with respect to FIG. 5, in one embodiment, a tag includesfield information designating various categories, and/or subcategories.

The tag operation 804 may involve assigning weighting values to tagfields, which indicate a relative importance of each field category.Thus, for example, in the tag operation 804, a tag for a beeradvertisement may include age identification information of 21-55, witha relative weight of 1, and an income identification range of$30,000-$100,000, with a relative weight of 0.5. In this example, thetag indicates that the income range identified is less important thanthe age range that is identified.

Once content is tagged, an establish operation 808 establishes acommunication connection between a client device 304 and a server device302. Establishing a communication connection may be carried out usingany means known in the art. By way of example, and not limitation, in anInternet environment a client computer typically send a request (e.g., aHypertext Transport Protocol request) to a server computer to request aparticular web page identified by a Universal Resource Locator (URL). Asa further example, a connection may be established in a cable televisionenvironment by a set-top-box switching to a channel or transportfrequency. Many other methods of establishing a communication connectionare known in the art and will fall within the scope of the establishoperation 808.

The server device 302 then sends data to the client device 304 in a sendoperation 812. The data includes one or more of the tagged content itemsthat were tagged in the tagging operation 804. The server may sendcontent items using any transmission protocol known in the art,including a proprietary or non-proprietary protocols. Sending the taggedcontent may include encoding the tagged content items, packetizingand/or formatting the encoded tagged content items, and modulating acarrier frequency with the packetized data. In the send operation 812,the server may also append a unique client device identifier to thetagged content data such that a particular client device 304 isassociated with the tagged content items. In a computer Internetenvironment, the client computer typically has a unique InternetProtocol (IP) address. In a cable television environment, each STB has aunique identifier. In general, each client device 304 may be uniquelyidentified on the network so that the server device 302 may send taggedcontent items directly to each client device in the send operation 812.

As discussed above, the tagged content items that are sent in thesending operation 812 may be any content, including advertising. Theserver device 302 may send the content items in any order applicable tothe implementation. For example, in one implementation it may be mostefficient for the server device 302 to send all advertisements in agroup sequentially or not, and then all video content items, followed byall book content items sequentially, and so on.

In a receiving operation 816, the client device 304 receives the taggedcontent items that were sent in the sending operation 812. In thereceiving operation 816, the client device 304 detects tagged contentitems that are directed at the client device 304. The client device 304then demodulates, decodes and formats tagged content items as necessary.Depending on the particular implementation, the receiving operation 816may involve synchronizing a data signal from the server device 302. Inthe receiving operation 816, the received tag(s) may be analyzed withreference to a user profile, such as the user profile 322, which mayinclude tag identification related to unwanted content categories.

The client device 304 may cache tagged content items in a cacheoperation 820. In the cache operation 820, tagged content items arestored in memory (e.g., 204, 208, 210, etc.) that is accessible by theclient device 304 for possible later presentation to the user. Thetagged content items may be logically stored in memory in anyarrangement. For instance, the cache operation 820 may involve logicallystoring the tagged content items contiguously in memory as they arereceived. Alternatively, the cache operation 820 may logically groupcertain types of content (e.g., video content) together in memory.However the content items are arranged logically in memory, it is to beunderstood that the physical locations in the memory need not follow thelogical arrangement.

During operation, an insertion event may be detected in a detectoperation 824. An insertion event is an indication to insert one or morecontent items into a stream of content items being presented to the user824. The manner in which the content item is presented to the user isgenerally related either spatially (e.g., on a display monitor) ortemporally (e.g., synchronized in time) to other content items that arepresented to the user of the client device 304. In the detect operation814, in a STB/TV or a TV-equipped computer environment, the clientdevice 304 may receive, for example, a cue tone from the head-end, whichindicates that an advertisement is to be displayed at a designated time.Also in the STB/TV environment, the client device 304 may receive inputfrom the user to display a menu of content items (e.g., games). In thiscase, the input from the user is an indication to insert one or morecontent items (e.g., game content items) in a menu to the user.

After the client device 304 detects an indication to insert content, theclient device 304 evaluates the content to be inserted in an evaluateoperation 826. In the evaluate operation 826, the tags associated withthe insertion event are evaluated based on a user profile (e.g., userprofile 322), to determine whether the content associated with theinsertion event should be blocked from presentation to the user. Anymethod of evaluation may be employed in the evaluate operation 826 toblock one or more inappropriate content items. A block operation 828blocks unwanted content items based on results of the evaluationoperation 826.

In one embodiment, if a content item is determined to be inappropriatein the evaluate operation 826, the block operation 828 causes a defaultcontent item to be presented. An exemplary method of evaluation isdiscussed in detail below in reference to FIGS. 12-14. In a presentoperation 832, the client device 304 presents to the user content itemsthat are not identified in the user profile 322 to be blocked.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary content selection user interface 900that may be presented to a user of a client device 304 (FIG. 3)employing an embodiment of the present invention. The user interface 900includes two menus presented to the user allowing the user to makeselections. A content type menu 904 presents the user with four types ofcontent from which to choose: movie content 906, games content 908,books content 910, and children's programming content 912. Using aninput device, such as a mouse, keyboard, remote control, or the like,the user may select any of the items listed in the content type menu 904to obtain a list of content items of the selected content type. Asillustrated, the user may choose 916 the games content 908 type. Whenthe user chooses 916 the games content 908, a games menu 918 isdisplayed with a list of five available and appropriate games:“Warlords” 920, “BattleZone®” 922, “BMX Rally” 924, “Indy Racer” 926,and “Madden NFL®” 928. The user may then select one of the games listedon the games menu 918 to get more information about a particular game.Most relevant to the present invention is the process that occurs whenthe user chooses, at choose operation 916, a particular item, such asthe games content item 908.

When the user chooses an item, such as the games content item 908, acontent insertion event arises from the user I/O module 318 (FIG. 3).The user I/O module 318 sends a message to the content insertion module402 (FIG. 4) indicating that a list of appropriate items, e.g., games,is to be presented to the user. Additionally, the list of items may besorted in order of user preference. In one embodiment, the contentinsertion engine 402 responds by retrieving games tags from the clienttag data 316 and sending the tags to the blocking module 404. Theblocking module 404 blocks items having tags that are identified in theuser profile 322. Consequently, in the example shown in FIG. 9, gameshaving tags that are not identified in the user profile are transmittedto the presentation module 403. Meanwhile, games having tags that areidentified in the user profile 322 are not sent to the presentationmodule 403. Consequently, the resulting list of games 918 only has gamesthat satisfy predetermined requirements, i.e., the tags for the listedgames are not identified as “blocked.”

The presentation module 403 receives data, such as tags and/or content,and formats the data to be sent to the user I/O module 318. Using a listof games as an example, the presentation module 403 may wait to receivea number of tags before transmitting the game titles to the user I/Omodule 318. The user I/O module 318 will then present a list of gametitles as shown in the games menu 918. Games that are blocked are notpresented on the games menu 918.

As may be appreciated, prior to blocking content in response toinsertion events, a user profile 322 (FIG. 3) is established. FIGS. 10and 11 illustrate an exemplary process for establishing the user profile322. The user profile 322 is based on tags that are used by contentproviders to categorize types of content. In one embodiment, the clientdevice 304 presents a list of tags to the user with descriptions of theassociated content. The user may thereby manually construct a userprofile by entering tags that relate to content that is to be blocked.In another embodiment, the user profile 322 may be automatically updatedby the client device 304 based on a user's viewing history.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary category selection user interface 1000that may be presented to enable a user of a client device 304 (FIG. 3)to manually enter categories and subcategories of content to be blocked.The user interface 1000 includes two menus presented to the userallowing the user to make selections. A tag categories menu 1004presents the user with four categories of content from which to choose:type 1006, age 1008, rating 1010, and family 1012. Using an inputdevice, such as a mouse, keyboard, remote control, or the like, the usermay select any of the items listed in the tag categories menu 1004 toobtain a list of options associated with the selected category. Asillustrated, the user may choose 1016 the rating 1008 category. When theuser chooses 1016 the rating category 1008, a ratings menu 1018 isdisplayed with a list of five possible ratings: “G” 1020, “PG” 1022,“PG-13” 1024, “R” 1026, and “X” 1028. The user may then select one ofthe options listed on the ratings menu 1018 to have that selected ratingadded to the user profile 322.

FIG. 11 is an operation flow 1100 illustrating exemplary steps oroperations that may be employed by the profile generator 406 forgenerating and/or updating a user profile (e.g., 322 in FIG. 3). In anembodiment, the user, upon initial power-up may be prompted to fill outa survey to provide information about the user to the client device 304.Querying operation 1102 determines whether a survey mode has beenentered. The survey mode may be entered any number of ways, including adetermination that a survey has not yet been filled out, or that theuser manually selected an option to enter the survey mode. If it isdetermined in the query operation 1102 that the survey mode has beenentered, operation flow 1100 branches YES to administer operation 1104an administer operation 1104. The administer operation 1104 administersa survey to the user. During the administer operation 1104, the user mayenter demographic or other data that correspond to preferences forcontent.

In an embodiment, the data entered by the user in the survey is notreleased from the client device 304. Rather, the client device 304 usesthe survey data to maintain the user profile 322 to provide futurecontent to the user. Using the demographic data entered during theadminister operation 1104, a build operation 1106 generates tagscorresponding to the user's selections in the administer operation 1104.In one particular embodiment, the build operation 1106 identifiescontent categories that would typically be considered inappropriate fora user associated with the survey information. The inappropriate contentcategories may be based on statistical studies that relate demographicinformation to content categories. The build operation then createsfields similar to the fields illustrated in FIG. 5. As discussed above,a tag has category information in one or more fields in the tag. Thecategory information generated in the build operation 1106 associatesthe user's survey data with categories of common identifiers discussedin FIG. 5. An update operation 1108, updates the profile 322 with tagsthat were generated in the build operation 1106.

If it is determined that the survey mode has not been entered in thequery operation 1102, operation flow 1100 branches NO to query operation1110, which determines whether a manual tag input mode has been entered.Query operation 1110 determines whether the user has selected an optionfor manually entering specific tags associated with media content thatthe user prefers (or does not prefer) to be presented. If it isdetermined in the query operation 1110 that a manual tag input mode hasbeen entered, flow branches YES to present operation 1112 which presentstag options to the user that the user may select.

In one embodiment, the present operation 1112 displays a menu of tagsand/or tag categories that have been programmed into the client device304. The present operation 1112 may present content that has beenpreviously compiled based on tags received from the server device 302,or the present operation 1112 may access a directory of tags that isperiodically updated in the client device 304. After the presentoperation 1112 presents tag options to the user and the user selects oneor more tag(s) related to content to be blocked, the update operation1108 updates the user profile 322 with the tags selected by the user inthe present operation 1112.

If the query operation 1110 determines that the manual tag input modehas not been entered, operation flow 1100 branches NO to detectoperation 1114, which begins to detect user selections. The detectoperation 1114 may detect any selections, such as, but not limited to,mouse clicks, keyboard entry, or remote control data entry. The detectoperation 1114 may record the user selections along with other relatedinformation such as time of entry, or duration of viewing particularcontent. For example, in a set-top box implementation, the detectoperation 1114 may detect a user selecting a Home Box Office® (HBO®)movie, such as “Band of Brothers”®. The detect operation 1114 recordswhen the user begins watching “Band of Brothers”® as well as when theuser changes the channel to another channel, such as a football game onCBS®. The collection, over time, of viewing patterns and preferences maybe used to build a user profile, such as the user profile 322,indicating categories of media content that are not preferred. Asdiscussed above, subcategories of undesired content may also be analyzedand stored in the user profile 322.

After the detect operation 1114 detects a user selection, an analyzeoperation 1116 stores tag data, such as category fields (e.g., 516, 518,etc., FIG. 5), associated with the user selection. As discussed, mediacontent from the server device 302 includes a tag descriptive of thecontent based on predetermined content categories and subcategories. Inthe analyze operation 1116, the tag data may be stored for analysis,such as determining a pattern in the user's selections. In oneembodiment, the analyze operation 1116 counts the categories andsubcategories of content that the user views over time. If the count ofa particular category or subcategory does not reach a predeterminedthreshold count, the category may be added to the user profile 322 in anupdate operation 1118.

The update operation 1118 updates the user profile 322 with tag datarelated to content that is automatically determined to be unwanted.After the user profile 322 is updated in the update operation 1118,operation flow 1100 loops back to the detect operation 1114 whereinsubsequent user selections are detected. The detect operation 1114, theanalyze operation 1116, and the update operation 1118 may be iteratedindefinitely until the user turns off the client device 304.

FIG. 12 is an operation flow 1200 including exemplary steps oroperations that may be implemented by the blocking module 404 (FIG. 4)to block out media content received from the server device 302 that isless preferred by the user. A receive operation 1202 receives a commandto insert media content from the content insertion engine 402. Anevaluate operation 1204 then evaluates the received tags based on tagsin the user profile 322 to determine whether tagged data from thecontent insertion module 402 should be blocked. In the evaluateoperation 1204 it is determined whether tag category data from thecontent insertion module 402 match tag category data in the user profile322. In one embodiment, the evaluate operation 1204 compares each fieldin a tag from the user profile with each field in a tag from the contentinsertion engine 402. In one embodiment, if a field in both tagsmatches, the associated content is not presented to the user.

A block operation 1206 then blocks the media content having tag datathat matches tag data in the user profile 322. In the block operation1206, content that is determined to match corresponding tag data in theuser profile is not presented to the user of the client device. Thus,the blocking module 404 (FIG. 4) does not transmit matching content tothe presentation module 403. In a present operation 1208, the user I/Omodule 318 presents media content that is not screened in the blockoperation 1206. The present operation 1208 presents alternative contentother than the blocked content. The operation flow ends at end operation1210.

FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment of an evaluate operation, such as theevaluate operation 1204 (FIG. 12). In a receive operation 1304, theblocking module 404 receives a tag and content from the contentinsertion module 402. In this particular embodiment, the contentinsertion module 402 receives a tag and content from the receive module312 and keeps track of the order of dispensing tags to the blockingmodule 404. The blocking module 404 retrieves a tag out of the userprofile 322 in a retrieve operation 1308.

In a compare operation 1310, the blocking module 404 compares the tagfrom the receive module 312 to the tag from the user profile 322 todetermine if the two tags have any matching categories. Comparing thetwo tags may be accomplished using any method known in the art anddepends on how the tags are encoded in the particular implementation.For example, fields in the tags may be encoded as single bits (either onor off). In this example, the comparing operation 1310 may perform abit-masking operation, which is a computationally efficient way ofcomparing bits.

If it is determined that the two tags retrieved in operations 1304 and1308 have matching category data, the blocking module 404 blocks thecontent received from the content insertion module 402 in a blockoperation 1314. In the block operation 1314, the blocking module maytransmit alternative content to the presentation module 403. However, ifthe two tags compared in the compare operation 1310 do not match in anycategory, the blocking module 404 determines whether any more tags existin the user profile 322. In a determine operation 1318, the blockingmodule 404 reads the user profile 322 to determine if another tag isavailable for comparison. If so, the blocking module 404 retrieves thenext tag from the user profile 322 in a retrieve operation 1322. Afterthe next tag is retrieved from the user profile 322, the compareoperation 1310 compares the next user profile tag with the tag receivedfrom the content insertion module 402. If, on the other hand, thedetermine operation 1318 determines that no other tags remain to becompared in the user profile 322, flow branches NO to 1326 an endoperation 1332.

FIG. 14 is an operation flow 1400 illustrating exemplary operations thatmay be employed in an embodiment of the compare operation 1310 of FIG.13. Input to the operation is a tag from the content insertion module402 and a tag from the user profile 322. In general, the operationalflow 1400 iterates through fields in the tag from the content insertionmodule 402 and corresponding fields in the tag from the user profile322, determining if any category data for the tags matches. If anycategories match, a “YES” value is returned. Otherwise, a “NO” value isreturned.

After a start operation 1402, a retrieve operation 1404, retrieves acategory (e.g., type category 516 of FIG. 5) and its field data (e.g.,“Game”) from the tag that is received from the content insertion module402. In another retrieve operation 1406, corresponding type field datais retrieved from the user profile tag. In a compare operation 1408 itis determined whether the identifying data for the two associated fieldsmatches. For example, if the type category data is “Game” in both thefields, the fields match. If the category data matches, operation flow1400 branches “YES” to a return YES operation 1410 returns an indicatorthat at least one category matches in the two tags being compared. If,in the compare operation 1408, the field data of the content tag doesnot match that of the user profile tag, a determine operation 1412determines if another field remains in the tags to be compared.

If the determine operation 1412 determines that another field (e.g.,title field 518 of FIG. 5) remains for comparison, the retrieveoperation 1404 retrieves the field and its category data from thereceived tag. Processing continues as before to compare thecorresponding field data of the user profile tag. If no more fieldsremain to be processed in the determine operation 1412, a return NOoperation 1414 returns an indicator that the tag from the contentinsertion module 402 does not match the user profile tag in anycategories.

As described above, the user can create a user profile based on theuser's viewing history. A user interface 1500 is shown in FIG. 15 thatprovides a viewing history pane 1502, a categories pane 1504, and a userprofile pane 1506. Via the user interface 1500, the user may view dataabout the user's viewing history in the viewing history pane 1502. Basedon the viewing history data, the user may select content categories fromthe content categories pane 1504 to be blocked. To add categories to theuser profile pane 1506, the user selects an “add” visual displayelement, such as an add button 1508.

The user may delete a selected category from the user profile pane 1506using a “delete” visual display element, such as the delete button 1509.The user may also clear all categories from the user profile pane 1506with a “clear” visual display element, such as the clear all button1510. In addition, the user may save the categories in the user profilepane 1506 to the user profile in memory using a save visual displayelement, such as the save profile button 1512. After the user hascreated the user profile, the interface 1500 may be exited with an exitbutton 1514.

In the particular embodiment, the viewing history pane 1502 has twocolumns of data, a category column 1516 and a time viewed column 1518.The category column 1516 includes categories and subcategories of mediacontent the user has viewed. The time viewed column 1518 providesviewing time data corresponding to each of the categories orsubcategories in the category column 1516. The viewing time data mayindicate viewing time in absolute time units (e.g., time in hours) orthe viewing time data may indicate a relative amount of time spentviewing each of the corresponding categories or subcategories. Forexample, as illustrated, the subcategory football has been watched 33.5%of the time according to the viewing history. The viewing history pane1502 includes selecting elements, such as a horizontal scroll bar 1520and a vertical scroll bar 1522, that enable the user to scroll throughthe categories and frequencies.

The viewing time values shown in the viewing time-viewed column 1518 maybe determined using any method as may be known in the art. In oneembodiment of the client device 304 (FIG. 3), the analysis module 314calculates the time-viewed values. In this embodiment the contentinsertion engine 402 (FIG. 4) of the analysis module 314 monitors thecategories and subcategories of content that are viewed. The contentinsertion engine 402 may include a timer device that monitors how longeach item of content is viewed. Then, the content insertion engine 402accumulates viewing time associated with each category and subcategoryof content. On a substantially continuous basis, the content insertionengine 402 may calculate a time-viewed value for each category andsubcategory. The time viewed value may be given on a percentage basis bydividing the total viewing time by the accumulated viewing timeassociated with each category and subcategory. The content insertionengine 402 saves the time-viewed values in memory. When the user viewsthe interface 1500, each time-viewed value and associated category orsubcategory is transmitted to the presentation module 403 via theblocking module 404, for presentation in the viewing history pane 1502.

The content categories pane 1504 is a list of all possible categoriesfrom which the user may select. The user may scroll through allcategories using a scroll bar 1524. When the user identifies a categoryto be added to the user profile, such as advertisements, the user mayselect the advertisements category and then select the add button 1508to add the category advertisements to the user profile pane 1506. Inanother embodiment, using a mouse input device, the user may doubleclick a category or subcategory, such as advertisements, to add thatcategory or subcategory to the user profile pane 1506. Each row 1526 inthe content categories pane 1504 includes a drop down selector 1528.

When the user selects the drop down selector 1528, a drop down menu 1530is presented with a list of subcategories associated with a higher-levelcategory. The drop down menu 1530 includes vertical scroll bar 1532,whereby the user may scroll through the subcategories associated withthe higher-level category. For example, under the higher level category‘advertisements,’ a user may select the subcategory ‘baby needsadvertisements’ for addition to the user profile pane 1506. As withhigher-level categories, the user may add a subcategory to the userprofile pane 1506 by selecting the subcategory and selecting the addbutton 1508, or by “double-clicking” on the subcategory.

As content categories are selected by the user and added to the userprofile pane 1506, they appear in a row in the user profile pane 1506.The user may view all of these content categories or subcategories usingselective visual display elements, such as a vertical scroll bar 1534and a horizontal scroll bar 1536. If the user wants to remove a categoryor subcategory from the user profile pane 1506, the user may select thecontent category or subcategory and activate a delete button 1509. Whenthe delete button 1509 is activated, a selected category or subcategoryin the user profile pane 1506 is removed from the user profile pane1506. If the user wishes to remove all categories and subcategories fromthe user profile pane 1506, the user may select the clear all button1510, which removes all categories or subcategories from the userprofile pane 1506.

When the user is satisfied with the categories or subcategories that arein the user profile pane 1506, the user may select the save profilebutton 1512 to save the categories and subcategories to the userprofile. When the save profile button 1512 is selected, the contentcategories and subcategories identified in the user profile pane 1506are encoded and/or formatted as necessary, and saved to a user profilein long-term memory to be used later for blocking undesired content.When the user is finished editing the user profile, the user may pressan exit button 1514 to exit the profile builder interface 1500.

A substitute content selection user interface 1600 is illustrated inFIG. 16. The substitute content selection user interface 1600facilitates a user's selection of substitute content that may be used inplace of content that is determined to be blocked. In general, the userinterface 1600 enables a user to designate a substitution mode(s). Morespecifically, the substitute content user interface 1600 enables a userto select substitute content parameters, such as a source, type, andnature (e.g., dynamic or static) of the substitute content. A substitutecontent selection user interface may be graphical, textual, orrelational as is suitable for the particular implementation. In general,the data entered via the substitute content user interface 1600 definesa substitution mode.

The particular embodiment illustrated in FIG. 16 of the substitutecontent user interface 1600, is graphical in nature. As illustrated, thesubstitute content user interface 1600 has a source area 1602 and apreview area 1604. The source area includes visual display elements,such as radio buttons 1606, which are mechanisms by which a user canselect an associated source for substitute content. As illustrated, theuser may select a screensaver selector 1607, a prestored contentselector 1609, a content from server selector 1613, or a blank screenselector 1617.

A screensaver may be selected for substitution via the screensaverselector 1607. A screensaver source typically includes a file havingscreensaver data, such as one or more displayable images, or displayableimage patterns. A file selector, such as the “from file” button 1608facilitates selection of a screensaver file. The user may select thefrom file button 1608 using a selection device such as a mouse or remotecontrol. Upon selection from the from file button 1608, the user isprompted to enter a file location and name, identifying the screen saverfile. The file location and name is displayed in a screensaver file namefield 1610.

Prestored content may be selected via the prestored content selector1609. Prestored content includes content that may have been previouslyreceived by the client and stored locally, or a user selection of videoor audio content. If the user selects prestored content, the user maythen select a type of content, either local dynamic content or a userselection. A user may select the type of prestored content with a checkbox 1612 next to the desired type of content. If the user selects a userselection, the user may identify a file having the user selection with a“from file” button 1614. Upon selection from the from file button 1614,the user is prompted to enter a file location and name identifying theuser selection. The location and name of the file is displayed in aprestored content user selection field 1616.

A ‘content from server’ selector 1613 may be provided to enable the userto select content from the server. If the user selects content fromserver, when blocked content is received, the client device identifiesother content from the server that is in accord with the user profile.Selecting other content from the server by the client device may involverequesting alternative content to replace the blocked content, or, inanother embodiment, identifying content streaming from the server to theclient that is appropriate. In the latter case, the server may providemany potential substitute data streams, each having associated tagvalues. If the default content stream is blocked, the next one isanalyzed, and so on, until one is not blocked and is presented to theuser. Consequently, the client device may recognize multiple items ofcontent that are to be blocked, and in response to each blockingdetermination, attempt to identify content from the server that isappropriate using operations described herein.

As illustrated, the user may select a blank screen to substitute contentselection by selecting an associated “blank screen” selector 1617. Ifthe blank screen substitute content selector 1617 is selected, when theclient determines that content should be blocked, a blank screen will bedisplayed. The user may also choose to have audio in combination with ablank screen. If the user selects an audio check box 1621, audio will bepresented along with the blank screen when blocked content isidentified. When the audio check box 1621 is selected, audio from theserver is not blocked but is presented along with the blank screen. Inother words, selection of blank screen selector 1617 and audio check box1621 results in only the video being blocked but not the audio.

In another embodiment, the blank screen selector 1617 may be selectedalong with an “audio from file” check box 1618. In this embodiment, theaudio that is presented to the user is from an audio source fileidentified in an audio source file field 1620. The audio source filefield 1620 is chosen by the user via a “from file” button 1622 wherebythe user may select the location and file name of the audio file to bepresented along with the blank screen.

A manual input selector, such as the manual input radio button 1630, maybe provided in an embodiment. Using the manual input radio button 1630,the user indicates that the user should be prompted before content issubstituted for blocked content. As is discussed with reference to FIG.22, the user may be prompted with a list of preferred content, fromwhich the user can select for substitution.

An automatic input selector, such as the automatic radio button 1632,may be provided in an embodiment. By selecting the automatic radiobutton 1632, the user indicates that substitution of content should beperformed automatically and the user should not be prompted prior tosubstitution. Automatic substitution may be carried out using anymethods as may be known, and particular embodiments are illustrated inFIGS. 20-22. As is discussed with reference to FIGS. 20-22, automaticsubstitution may involve correlation processes with dynamically updatedor manually input preference data, based on tag field data, includingtag field weighting data.

The preview area 1604 displays a preview of the selected substitutecontent. A preview display element, such as a preview button 1624,enables a user to turn on a preview function whereby the substitutesource content is accessed and displayed in the preview area 1604. Thepreview area 1604 may be dynamically updated or display a staticsnapshot of the substitute content. Two selectable display elements, adone button 1626 and an exit button 1628 enable the user to exit theuser interface 1600. When the user selects the done button 1626, thesettings that the user has entered on the user interface 1600 are savedto be used later and the user interface 1600 is exited. If the exitbutton 1628 is selected, the user interface 1600 is exited withoutsaving the settings.

Screensaver content includes, but is not limited to, still frame scenes,or favorite photographs, such as family photos. Audio content that maybe selected include, but is not limited to, music that has been loadedinto the client device. Audio content may also include the audioreceived from the server. Thus, for example, when blank screen has beenselected, the user may select that the audio continue to be presented tothe user even though the video is not.

In an embodiment, the client device substitutes blocked content withother content that is substantially equal in duration. Thus, forexample, if a 30-second advertisement is blocked, the client deviceidentifies and presents substitute content that is also 30 seconds induration. Similarly if, for example, a 30 minute program is blocked,substitute content is selected that has a 30 minute duration. Substitutecan include more than one item of content in order to substantiallyequal the duration of the blocked content. Thus, for example, in oneembodiment, if a two-hour movie is blocked, a combination of programsmay be selected to substitute for the blocked movie such that combinedduration of the substituted programs is two hours.

If the user selects substituted content from the server, in oneembodiment the client device calls one or more servers to requestadditional content from the server. The client may inform the servers ofthe timed duration required to fill the time period of blocked content.In an alternative embodiment, the client device notifies servers of aneed for alternative content, and in response, the servers provide realtime data streams to the client device based upon predetermined useridentified preferences.

A preference data storage operation flow 1700 is illustrated in FIG. 17.The operation flow 1700 is employed in an embodiment of the presentinvention to store tags or other relevant data associated with contentthat is presented to the user so that local content may be used tosubstitute for any content that is blocked. Operation flow 1700 beginswith start operation 1702. Then, while the client device is receivingtagged content, a detect operation 1704 detects which of the taggedcontent is presented to the user, as well as user input. The detectoperation 1704 may detect any selections, such as, but not limited to,mouse clicks, keyboard entry, or remote control data entry.

The detect operation 1704 may record the user selections along withother related information such as time of entry, or duration of viewingparticular content. For example, in a set-top box implementation, thedetect operation 1704 may detect a user selecting a Home Box Office®(HBO®) movie “Band of Brothers”®. The detect operation 1704 records whenthe user begins watching “Band of Brothers”® as well as when the userchanges the channel to another channel, such as a football game on CBS®.The collection, over time, of viewing patterns and preferences builds auser profile indicating the relative interest in different genres ofcontent programming, such as sports, movies, dramas, education,children, etc. Multiple levels of detail (e.g., subtypes) can bederived, such as specific types of sports.

After the detect operation 1704 detects presented content and/or one ormore user selections, a store operation 1706 stores user selection dataand/or tag data associated with presented content. As discussed, allmedia content, including programming, from a server device includes atag(s) descriptive of content. The tag data and/or user input data maybe stored for analysis, such as determining a pattern in the user'sselections and automatically identifying and substituting preferredcontent with blocked content. In a particular embodiment, the user inputand tag data are stored in the preference storage 405 (FIG. 4). Thedetect operation 1704 and the store operation 1706 may be iteratedindefinitely until the user turns off the client device 304.

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram 1800 illustrating exemplary steps oroperations that may be implemented by the block module 404 to blockmedia content received from the server device that is not desired by theuser and present substitute content in place of the blocked content.After a start operation 1802, a receive operation 1804 receives acommand to block media content from presentation. A correlate operation1806 then correlates tags in the preference data 405 with tags foralternative content. The alternative tag data may be obtained fromprestored content (e.g., storage module 316 in FIG. 3) or the server todetermine which tagged data from the storage module 316 may be mostpreferred by the user. In the correlate operation 1806 it is determinedwhether alternative tags from an alternative content source are similarto tags in the preference data 405.

In one embodiment, the correlate operation 1806 may determine a level ofcorrelation or matching for each data stream in the storage module 316.For example, the correlate operation 1806 may determine that two tagssufficiently match if at least three fields in the tags are the same,even if some other fields are different between the tags. If the levelof matching is above a predetermined threshold, the data stream may bepresented to the user.

A select operation 1808 then selects the media content that most closelymatches the preference data 405. If the blocking command received in thereceive operation 1804 is an advertisement blocking command, the selectoperation 1808 preferably selects an alternative tag for anadvertisement from either the storage module 316 or the server tosubstitute in place of the blocked advertisement. If more than oneadvertisement sufficiently matches a tag in the preference data 405, theselect operation 1808 may select an advertisement that has not beenpresented to the user recently (e.g., from the client tagged data 316 inFIG. 3). In a present operation 1810 the selected substitute content ispresented to the user. In one embodiment, the present operation 1810notifies the user I/O module 318 of the substitute media content to bepresented to the user that was selected in the select operation 1808.

FIG. 19 illustrates an embodiment of a substitute content identificationoperation flow 1900. Upon receipt of a blocking event, one or morecontent items are dynamically identified that may be substituted for theblocked content. In a retrieve operation 1904, a tag is retrieved fromclient storage (e.g., client tagged data 316) or the server. In anotherretrieve operation 1906 a tag is retrieved out of the preference datastorage 405. In a correlate operation 1908, the dynamic content tag(from the retrieve operation 1904) is compared to the preferred tag(retrieved in the retrieving operation 1906) to determine if the twotags meet a predetermined correlation threshold. Comparing the two tagsmay be accomplished using any method as may be known in the art and maydepend on how the tags are encoded in the particular implementation.

If it is determined that the two tags retrieved in operations 1904 and1906 meet the predetermined correlation threshold, the tag retrievedfrom the preference data storage module 405 is selected in a selectoperation 1910. In the select operation 1910, the content associatedwith the selected tag is retrieved from the tagged data storage 316 andmade available for presentation. However, if the two tags compared inthe compare operation 1910 do not meet the predetermined correlationthreshold, a determine operation 1912 determines if another tag isavailable for comparison. If so, the next tag is retrieved from thecontent preference data in a retrieve operation 1914. After the next tagis retrieved from the preference data, the correlate operation 1908compares the next preferred content tag with the tag retrieved from thetagged data 316.

If, on the other hand, it is determined that no other tags are in thepreference data, operation flow 1900 branches NO to a determineoperation 1916. The determining operation 1916 determines whetheranother tag exists in the tagged data memory 316 for comparison. In thedetermine operation 1926, the block module 404 may request another tagfrom the tag data memory 316. If another tag is identified in the taggeddata memory 316, the next tag is retrieved in a retrieve operation 1918.After the next tag is retrieved, operation flow 1900 returns to theretrieve operation 1906 wherein the first tag in the preferred datastorage 405 is again retrieved, and the sequence of comparison andretrieval begins again.

If it is determined that no more tags are available in the tagged datamemory 316 in the determine operation 1916, a negate operation 1917negates an availability flag, or other indicator, which indicates thatcontent has not been selected for substitution in place of blockedcontent. After appropriate content is selected in the select operation1910, a assert operation 1911 asserts the availability flag, or otherindicator, which indicates that content has been selected forsubstitution in place of blocked content. After the assert and negateoperations 1911 and 1917, the operation flow 1900 ends at endingoperation 1922. If the operation flow 1900 ends with the availabilityflag being negated (i.e., no content meets the correlation threshold), amessage may be presented to the user indicating that no substitutecontent is available for presentation.

FIG. 20 illustrates an operation flow 2000 with exemplary operationsthat may be employed in an embodiment of the correlate operation 1908 ofFIG. 19. Input to the operation flow 2000 is a tag from the taggedcontent memory 316 and a tag from the preference data 405. In general,the operational flow 2000 of FIG. 20 iterates through fields in the twoinput tags, determining if one or more of the category data fields forthe tags matches. After all the fields are iterated through, a score isgenerated that may be used to rank the tag in terms of user preferenceand/or substitute the associated content in place of blocked content. Inan initialize operation 2004, a weighted average value is set equal tozero. The weighted average value is used to keep track of the scoreassociated with the tag.

In a retrieve operation 2006, a field (e.g., type field 516 of FIG. 5)and its category data (e.g., “Game”) is retrieved from the tag from thetagged data memory 316. In another retrieve operation 2008, anassociated type identifier and its identifying data are retrieved fromthe user profile tag. In a compare operation 2010 it is determinedwhether the category data for the two associated fields match. Forexample, if the type identifying data is “Game” in both the tags, thefields match. When the identifier data matches, a score operation 2012accumulates a running score associated with the tag from the tagged datamemory 316. In one embodiment, the score operation 2012 calculates aweighted average of the category fields.

If, in the compare operation 2010, the category field of the tagged datamemory tag does not match that of the user profile tag, and after thescore operation 2012, a determine operation 2014 determines if anotherfield remains in the tags to be compared. If another field (e.g., titlefield 518 of FIG. 5) remains for comparison, the retrieve operation 2006retrieves the field and its category data from the tagged data memorytag. Processing continues as before to compare the corresponding fieldof the preference data tag. If no more fields remain to be processed inthe determine operation 2014, another determine operation 2016determines if the score computed in the scoring operation 2012 is abovea predetermined threshold value.

If the score is not above the predetermined threshold value, a return‘NO’ operation 2018 returns an indicator that the tag from the taggeddata memory 316 is not sufficiently correlated to the preferred tag. Ifthe score is above the predetermined threshold value, a return ‘YES’operation 2020 returns an indication that the tag from the tagged datamemory 316 is sufficiently correlated to the preferred tag. In both thereturn operations 2018 and 2020, the score may be returned along withthe indicator. The score may be used by a calling module to sort taggeddata memory tags according to preference and/or substitute content.

An operation flow 2100 is illustrated in FIG. 21 having exemplaryoperations for choosing a source of substitute content and presentingthe substitute content in place of blocked content. In general, theoperation flow 2100 checks settings that were set by a user via a userinterface, such as the substitute selection user interface 1600 (FIG.16). Based on settings via the substitute selection interface 1600, inone embodiment, flags or other indicators are stored indicating the userselections. The flags or indicators are used in the operation flow 2100to choose substitute content based on the user's selections.

After a start operation 2102, a detect operation 2104 detects blockedcontent. Detecting blocked content, as discussed above, includesreceiving content from a server or similar device, and comparing tagsfrom the received content with tags in a user profile. If a tag fromreceived content matches tags in a user profile, then the content isblocked. After blocked content is detected in the detect operation 2104,a check operation 2106 checks a substitution mode. The check operation2106 checks flags or variables or other data that was stored previouslybased on selections made in the user interface 1600. After the checkoperation 2100, a determine operation 2110 determines whether thesubstitution mode is prestored content, server content, or othercontent. If it is determined that the substitution mode is servercontent, the operation flow 2100 branches to a load operation 2112. Theload operation 2112 loads substitute content from the server.

If the determine operation 2110 determines that the substitution mode isprestored content, the operation flow 2100 branches to another determineoperation 2114. The determine operation 2114 determines whether theselected prestored content is local dynamic content or user selectedcontent. If the determine operation 2110 determines that thesubstitution mode is neither prestored content nor server content, theoperation flow 2100 branches to another determine operation 2116. Thedetermine operation 2116 determines whether the substitution source is ascreen saver or a blank screen.

With regard to the determine operation 2114, if it is determined thatlocal dynamic content was selected for substitution, a load operation2118 loads substituted content from local content storage. If, on theother hand, the determine operation 2114 determines that user selectedcontent is to be used, a present operation 2132 presents user selecteddata from a predetermined file. The present operation 2132 presents afile that has been selected by the user having user selected data forpresentation. As discussed, the user selected file data may includecontent of any type that the user desires to switch to in the case thatblocked content is received.

With regard to the determine operation 2116, if it is determined that ascreen saver has been selected as the substitution source, operationflow 2100 branches to the present operation 2132. The present operation2132 then presents a screen saver stored in a screen saver file. If thedetermine operation 2116 determines that a blank screen has beenselected, another determine operation 2120 determines whether an audiofile has been selected for use during content substitution. If thedetermine operation 2120 determines that an audio file is to be usedduring substitution, the present operation 2132 presents the audio fromthe selected audio file with a blank screen.

If the determine operation 2120 determines that an audio file is not tobe used during substitution, operation flow 2100 branches NO to anotherdetermining operation 2122. The determine operation 2122 determineswhether a blank screen is to be presented with streaming audio, or if noaudio is to be presented. If the determine operation 2122 determinesthat audio is to be presented with the blank screen, operation flow 2100branches YES to a presenting operation 2126. The present operation 2126presents a blank screen to the user with streaming audio (i.e., audio isnot blocked).

If the determine operation 2122 determines that audio is to be blockedduring presentation of the blank screen, operation flow 2100 branches NOto a present operation 2124. The present operation 2124 presents a blankscreen with no audio (i.e., audio is blocked). After the load operation2118, the present operation 2132, the present operation 2124, thepresent operation 2126, and the load operation 2112, the operation flow2100 ends at a return operation 2136.

An operation flow diagram 2200 is illustrated in FIG. 22 includingoperations for choosing between automatic and manual substitution thatmay be employed in an embodiment of load operations 2118 and 2112 (FIG.21). As discussed in FIG. 16, the user can select between manual (userprompted) or automatic selection of substitute content when it isdetermined that blocked content has been received. When content is to beloaded from the server or locally at the client for substitution,particular substitute content may be automatically identified andpresented to the user or the user may be provided a list of contentitems to choose from for substitution.

After a start operation 2202, a determine operation 2204 determineswhether substitute content is to be automatically or manually selected.In one embodiment, the determine operation 2204 checks a flag, or otherindicator, that was previously set. If it is determined that thesubstitute content is to be automatically selected, the operation flow2200 branches to an identify operation 2206 wherein preferred substitutecontent is automatically identified. The identify operation 2206 in oneembodiment employs correlation according to embodiments described hereinto identify preferred content.

The identify operation 2206 may calculate a level of preference andidentify the most preferred content item for substitution. A presentoperation 2208 presents the preferred substitute content that wasidentified in identify operation 2206. In one embodiment, the preferredsubstitute content that is identified is selected to correspond with thetime duration of the content that is blocked.

If it determined in the determine operation 2204 that substitute contentis to be manually selected, the operation flow 2200 branches to anidentifying operation 2210 wherein one or more preferred content itemsare identified. Again, in one embodiment, the identify operation 2210utilizes correlation to correlate tags associated with content items toidentify preferred content items. Present operation 2212 then presents alist of identified content items to the user.

In one embodiment, the present operation 2212 presents descriptiveinformation for each of the possible preferred content items and enablesthe user to select among the content items. A detect operation 2214detects user selection of one or more of the content items forsubstitution in place of the blocked content. In response to detecting auser selection, a present operation 2216 presents the selected contentto the user. The present operation 2216 locates the selected content inlocal storage or from the server loads the selected content into memoryas necessary and presents it to the user. After the present operation2208 and the present operation 2216, the operation flow 2200 ends atreturn operation 2218.

The method steps illustrated in FIGS. 8, 11-14 and 17-22 may beimplemented in firmware in a computer system. Additionally, the logicaloperations of the various embodiments of the present invention areimplemented (1) as a sequence of computer implemented acts or programmodules running on a computing system and/or (2) as interconnectedmachine logic circuits or circuit modules within the computing system.The implementation is a matter of choice dependent on the performancerequirements of the computing system implementing the invention.Accordingly, the logical operations making up the embodiments of thepresent invention described herein are referred to variously asoperations, structural devices, acts or modules. It will be recognizedby one skilled in the art that these operations, structural devices,acts and modules may be implemented in software, in firmware, in specialpurpose digital logic, and any combination thereof without deviatingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention as recited within theclaims attached hereto.

1. A graphical user interface to facilitate content substitution inresponse to identifying blocked content comprising: a substitute sourcearea operable to receive one or more user designations designating asource of substitute content, the substitute content comprising mediacontent and a substitute content tag comprising multiple data fieldswith at least one data field comprising a weight value that indicates animportance of the data field, wherein the substitute source areacomprises: a selectable screen saver visual display element, whereby auser can select a screen saver as the source of substitute content, aselectable prestored content visual display element, whereby the usercan select prestored content as the source for substitute content, aselectable local dynamic visual display element, whereby the user canchoose the prestored content to be from a local dynamic source, aselectable user selection visual display element, whereby the user canchoose a user selection as the prestored content, a selectable servercontent visual display element, whereby the user can select servercontent as the source for substitute content, a selectable blank screenvisual display element, whereby the user may select a blank screen asthe source for substitute content, a selectable ‘with audio’ visualdisplay element, whereby the user can choose that streaming audio bepresented while the blank screen is presented, and a selectable ‘audiofrom file’ visual display element, whereby the user can choose an audiofile to be presented while the blank screen is presented; and a previewarea to display at least one of the designated source of the designatedsource of the substitute content and the substitute content.
 2. Agraphical user interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the substitutesource area further comprises: a selectable file designation displayelement, whereby the user can choose a location and name of a screensaver file.
 3. A graphical user interface as defined in claim 1, whereinthe substitute source area further comprises: a selectable manualsubstitution visual display element, whereby the user can choose to beprompted prior to content substitution; and a selectable automaticsubstitution visual display element, whereby the user can choose thatcontent be substituted automatically without prompting.